


I Know Something is Missing

by edenofalltrades



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 02:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12739581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenofalltrades/pseuds/edenofalltrades
Summary: “Juggie…” She doesn’t know what compels her to go over to him, muscle memory or some subconscious drive to be with him. It just seems wrong to let him face any challenge without knowing she supports him… even if she did just break up with him.Spec Fic for Episode 2.06 - Written *BEFORE* the episode aired.





	I Know Something is Missing

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Riverdale and will not be making any profit from this story.
> 
> Story title from "Something's Missing" by Sheppard. Not necessary to listen to the song for the enjoyment of the story but just what I was listening to as I was writing it. 
> 
> The story was based on this tweet - https://twitter.com/lilireinhart/status/930484493265317888
> 
> A HUGE thank you to my beta reader/cheerleader KD for helping me out. Without them, this story would have been another half-completed draft that went nowhere.

“Juggie…” She doesn’t know what compels her to go over to him, muscle memory or some subconscious drive to be with him. It just seems wrong to let him face any challenge without knowing she supports him… even if she did just break up with him.

  
The scowl on his face, once reserved for everyone but her, tells Betty she’s made a big mistake in doing so. He sighs impatiently, daring her to speak and suddenly her breath hitches in her throat.  
  
“Can I help you, Elizabeth?” He asks curtly.  
  
Betty’s mind starts racing. There are so many things she wishes she could say to him.  
  
_I miss you._  
  
_I’m sorry I hurt you._  
  
_I only broke up with you because the Black Hood threatened to kill you if I didn’t._  
  
“Well?” Jughead crosses his arms.  
  
“I just wanted to wish you good luck before your race,” Betty murmurs before turning to walk away from him. It was a stupid idea.  
  
“I kissed Toni,” his confession is like a knife in her gut.  
  
“Oh, okay.” Betty nods, feeling the skin of her palms tear open under her fingernails before she’s even conscious she was doing so. She was determined to maintain her composure, her mother’s words echoing in her head _whatever you do, never let them see you cry_.  
  
“You had just broken up with me, through my best friend, after weeks of lying to me and pretending that things were okay,” he spat, moving closer to her. “Did you even mean it?”  
  
“Mean what?!” She yelled, choking back a sob.  
  
“That you loved me,” Jughead seethed.  
  
“What?! Of course, I did!” Betty dug her nails further into her palms as she yelled.  
  
“Then why did you break up with me that way?! Why couldn’t you just tell me yourself?!” It took everything in her power to hold his gaze and not fall apart. She was doing this for him. She could walk this back. She just had to hold out for a little longer and everything would be good again.  
  
Jughead softened his gaze, moving his hand up to caress Betty’s shoulder then bringing it back down as if he remembered he didn’t have the privilege anymore.  
  
“Just tell me why you had to send Archie.” The pain in his voice broke her heart all over again, sending an errant tear down her cheek.  
  
Before she has a chance to say anything else Jughead is called over to start the race.  
  
“Be safe,” she pleads.  
  
“Why?” He sneers, “It’s not like I have anything left to lose.”  
  
Betty stands rooted to the ground as she watches Jughead walk away, no longer trying to hold back the tears. She doesn’t even notice the crowd gather around her to watch the race until she feels someone’s arms come around to hug her, snapping her out of her daze.  
  
“Archie told me what happened,” Veronica’s whisper is warm and reassuring in her ear. It’s the metaphorical straw that breaks the camel’s back and Betty crumbles, sobbing against Veronica’s shoulder. She’s terrified the Black Hood is there, somehow. That he’s seeing all of this and that he will be calling her again that night, demanding another name lest he hurts Polly, Veronica, Jughead, or someone else she loves. That all of her careful planning was for naught… but after two weeks of hell, she’s just tired. Tired of keeping the secrets and tired of trying to keep the Black Hood at bay alone.  
  
“We’ll figure it out,” Veronica promises. “You don’t have to do it alone.”

  
Jughead ends up winning the race. The Ghoulies aren’t happy to be pushed back but at least it buys some time. Betty tries not to look over at Toni wrapping herself around Jughead but fails miserably. In another world, another time, celebrating a victory with him would have been her role, now she can’t come within five feet of him.  
  
“Come on, mon cherie, there’s no need for you to look at this.” Veronica tries to pull Betty away but she resists. Betty watches as Toni leans up to kiss Jughead again, unable to look away. She practically feels her heartbreak in anticipation but at the last second he turns his head so the kiss lands on his cheek, locking his gaze with Betty’s instead. Betty lets out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding in, finally letting Veronica lead her away.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   
Later that night Betty is sitting by her window again, writing in her diary. Her entries have become less a meticulous record of her day and more a yearning of what things can be like once the Black Hood is caught and she can finally stop lying to everyone. She had just finished writing for the day when she heard a knock on the window. Startled at first, Betty quickly dismissed it as a figment of her imagination. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time since the break up she imagined him coming over to question it. She tried to go back to her writing but then the knock came again, growing with intensity to the point where Betty could no longer write it off or ignore it. Drawing back the curtain, Betty couldn’t decide if she should be surprised to see Jughead.    
  


“What are you doing here?!” She hissed, opening the window, keenly aware of the danger he was ignoring by coming over.

   
“I could tell something was off,” he stated simply as he crawled through her window. “When you were helping me with the car you barely said two words to me, and you kept checking your phone like it was about to explode. Don’t think I didn’t notice you clenching your fists right before the race. Or the way you were staring at me after.”

   
Jughead put his hand on Betty’s shoulder, keeping it there despite her involuntary flinch. “I know you, Betty. Something’s going on that you’re not telling me and I’m sick of being the only one out of the loop.”

   
Betty considered her options carefully. She wanted so badly to tell him. To sink into his embrace, to let him console her and tell her everything was going to be okay. That he understood why she did what she did but the she didn’t have to be so strong anymore.

But then all the images came flashing through her head. The ones the Black Hood had been so meticulously planting for the past two weeks. Of her parent’s office blown apart. Of Polly carved like a Jack o’ Lantern. Of Veronica strangled. Of Jughead with a bullet hole. And it would be all her fault if she didn’t follow the Black Hood’s demands.

“Everything… is… fine with me.” Betty yanked her shoulder away from his touch, moving to the bed. “You need to leave, now.”

“Or what, the Black Hood is going to get me?” He quipped sardonically.  
  
Betty’s eyes went wide, “Who told you?!”  
  
   
“You just did,” he answered, all traces of humor absent from his voice.  
  


Jughead sits down in front of a now crying Betty on the bed. “Is that what this is all about? You’re afraid now that I’m at Southside, I’m going to get hurt by the Black Hood?”  
  


“He’s been calling me!” Betty sobs. “Threatening to cut the people from my life out of it using his methods if I don’t do it myself.”  
  


“Betty…” Jughead tries to reach out but she slaps his hand away.  
 

“No! Don’t you understand!” She sobs, “You need to get out. I can’t risk him hurting you.”  
  


“So you’d rather hurt me instead?”  
  


“I would rather you be alive and hating me, than loving me with your last dying breath.”  
  


Jughead stared at Betty for a beat longer before sighing and getting up from her bed. “Okay, I agree.”  
  


Jughead walked over to Betty’s window, shutting it and closing the curtains tightly before making sure her bedroom door was also locked.  
  


“I thought you said you would leave!” Betty exclaims almost pleadingly.  
  


“I said I agreed,” Jughead notes as he moves towards the bed, “Not what I agreed to.”  
  


Sitting down right next to Betty, Jughead put his arms around her, wrapping her tightly in his embrace as he did on so many other, happier occasions. “I agree that I would rather be alive. I also agree that I would rather have you alive and hating my method of keeping you in that state, than dead and happy I stayed away.”  
  


Betty looks up at him with a puzzled expression.  
  


“In case you’re forgetting, there are certain perks to being in a biker gang,” Jughead gently reminded her. “One of which is protection.”  
  


“I still can’t believe you joined the Serpents, this is all…” Betty started.  
  


“...my decision.” Jughead finished. “One that was more about protecting myself and the people I love. So please, let me use the protection it offers me to help you.”  
  


"Okay.” Betty sighs, shifting in the bed so there’s enough room for both of them to lay down. For the first time in two weeks, wrapped up in Jughead’s arms, sleep came easily to her. She knew catching the Black Hood would not be an easy task, but with the help of her friends, at least she no longer had to do it alone.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment or kudos if you liked it. You can find me on tumblr at edenofalltrades.


End file.
